Madeleine McCann’s parents, Kate and Gerry, have responded to a thoughtless man who dressed as their missing daughter for Halloween.
Daniel Gearie, a 25-year-old from Dundee, dressed as Madeleine and shared a photo of his costume on social media with the comment “and before you say ‘this is sick’ etc I know it is but I’m not the one who left a child unattended in a Portuguese hotel.”
Madeleine hasn’t been seen in more than 10 years since she went missing from her bed in Portugal’s Praia da Luz resort in May, 2007. Her whereabouts remain unknown and she has been named “the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history” by The Daily Telegraph.
The McCann’s told the Sun, “he’s an idiot and at his age should know better. What he did was deeply offensive and cruel.”
Apparently they weren’t the only ones who felt this way. Gearie offered a public apology after his viral photo was met with thousands of complaints calling him a “vile” and “disgraceful.”
He wrote,
At the weekend I made the most incredibly stupid, vile and disgusting decision of my life. I can honestly say that I am embarrassed and disgusted by my own behaviour and can only apologise for any offence that I caused anyone. There’s no hiding from what I did, I have to hold my hands up and take responsibility for my own actions.
I am genuinely sorry for the hurt that I have caused to my family over the past few days and hope that one day they and anyone else that I hurt can forgive me.
For now though I have to reflect on who I currently am and how I can better myself as a person.
Do you think his apology was good enough or too little, too late?
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